Harry Reid on when he got a heads up on the Bergdahl: “What difference does it make?”

posted at 2:01 pm on June 5, 2014 by Allahpundit

Via Greg Hengler, I realize that modern politics is all about brand-building but “whatevs” is a weird brand to choose. Hillary uttered these same words during her Benghazi testimony, now here’s Dingy recycling the sentiment for the Bergdahl swap. We’re one apathetic Obama soundbite away from a campaign commercial. Given his waning interest in his job these days, I’m thinking we’ll eventually get it.

Reid’s being asked here if it’s true that the White House notified him on Friday that the Bergdahl swap was impending, which would be curious since apparently no one else — no one — in Congress received that courtesy. Boehner wasn’t told, in case you’re wondering whether Reid’s tip-off was something they did as a matter of course for the majority leader in each chamber. Could be there’s a simple explanation, though: Maybe Reid was told on Saturday, after the deal had gone down, like everyone else and was simply mistaken about when he was notified. Right? Wrong, via John Ekdahl:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that the White House told him about the Bergdahl deal on Friday — before it actually happened. That would be notable because it appears nobody else in Congress was told about the deal until after the fact on Saturday, ABC’s JONATHAN KARL notes. That prompted a senior administration official to urgently tell reporters traveling with the President that Senator Reid was mistaken and that he had been told on Saturday just like everybody else. So, Senator Reid simply got his days mixed up, right? Maybe not. Shortly after the senior administration official sought to correct Senator Reid, Senator Reid’s spokesman sought to correct the senior adminstration official. “This is mildly awkward,” tweeted Reid spokesman Adam Jentelson, “but someone at the WH must be confused…” In a second tweet, Jentelson added: “We were alerted earlier in the week that a significant notification was imminent & learned on Fri that Bergdahl op was going fwd.” Asked about that, the senior administration official had a new response: “No comment.”

Reid says Friday, the White House says Saturday, Reid says no, really, it was Friday, the White House clams up. My theory on this yesterday was that Reid is lying through his teeth, trying to give Obama a tiny bit of political cover in claiming that he did notify at least one member of Congress before the swap happened — not 30 days earlier, as required by law, but a little bit earlier just to prove his good faith. That doesn’t add up, though. If Reid was going to lie to protect O, he should have said, “Yeah, he told me about this 31 days ago. He complied with the statute.” That wouldn’t have explained why Reid was the only member of Congress he told but it would have been something. Also, if Reid was intent on lying, he shouldn’t have taken the “whatevs” approach here. He should have been firm on Friday, i.e. “you’re damned right I received advance notice, just as Congress requires the president to provide.”

Sounds like what happened is that Reid did get a heads up from someone on Friday and either assumed that all the other key players in Congress had received one too or couldn’t keep his big mouth shut when someone asked him about his unique privilege. Being a sleazebag hatchet man for the White House’s enemy du jour has earned him some special treatment, no? Exit question: If it’s true that the Taliban threatened to kill Bergdahl if the prisoner swap leaked before it happened, why on earth would anyone have risked telling Reid or anyone else beforehand?

Trolls must be so confused, just sitting there , waiting to log on and start typing like crazy but not knowing what crap to type.
Bergy Boy is a hero POW— not working .
His colleagues are lairs— not working
His bosses were psychopaths— not working
Taliban is not our enemy— not working
The congress knew— not working
BergDad and taliMom are just not jihadies— not working
What to do ? What to do ?
:O

I thought it was clever to bash lawyers here. Apparently there are some of the parasites posting.

How do I know there was a loophole? From news reports I heard, there were exceptions in certain cases. Now while you may say Obama violated the “spirit” of the law, you cannot say he really broke it as CiC.

If you really feel like a law was broken, go ahead and try to put him under citizen’s arrest or push for impeachment proceedings. No Republicans will join you because they know it is simply a political issue and not a legal issue.

Trolls must be so confused, just sitting there , waiting to log on and start typing like crazy but not knowing what crap to type.
Bergy Boy is a hero POW— not working .
His colleagues are lairs— not working
His bosses were psychopaths— not working
Taliban is not our enemy— not working
The congress knew— not working
BergDad and taliMom are just not jihadies— not working
What to do ? What to do ?
:Oburrata on June 5, 2014 at 2:50 PM

SAO: Senators told yesterday US had “both specific & general indications” of possible threat to Bergdahl’s life if release deal disclosed.

canopfor on June 5, 2014 at 2:45 PM

Yeah right .
But even if this happened,
if I had been the recipient of that threat ,
I would have dared the talibs to go ahead and do it and then get ready to receive 20 dead bodies straight from gitmo, air dropped over their opium fields.

I thought it was clever to bash lawyers here. Apparently there are some of the parasites posting.

How do I know there was a loophole? From news reports I heard, there were exceptions in certain cases. Now while you may say Obama violated the “spirit” of the law, you cannot say he really broke it as CiC.

If you really feel like a law was broken, go ahead and try to put him under citizen’s arrest or push for impeachment proceedings. No Republicans will join you because they know it is simply a political issue and not a legal issue.

antisense on June 5, 2014 at 2:51 PM

While the issue of how much power a POTUS has during a time of war has been a constitutional question since the very beginning of this country, what hasn’t been a matter that has generated much debate is the power of the purse. It belongs to Congress, with all spending bill originating in the House.

Something in that statute is very important and has not been covered very much: The POTUS is prohibited from using taxpayer funds to transfer Gitmo detainees unless he complies with the 30-day notification.

Bergdahl was on double super secret probation that only Obama and his team of merry idiots knew about.

Did anybody else get a hoot out of King Barky the Liar pretending to be a tough buy after the gym video of a 100 pound weakling was released. Those 100 pound weaklings are the guys that go off on shooting sprees. If Obama would trade 5 tollybon generals now he is going to be very dangerous when his a$$ gets handed to him in November by the real terrorists, republicans.

Kraut is wrong about most things … and the few times he’s right, he’s generally 18 to 36 months late.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair on June 5, 2014 at 2:35 PM

Absolutely! Krauthammer has to be one of the most overrated talking heads on the right.

I’m sorry Krauthammer had an accident and became quadraplegic. I really am. But that doesn’t give him any magical moral or intellectual authority, and frankly, I find it very difficult to agree with a lot of what he says.

Something in that statute is very important and has not been covered very much: The POTUS is prohibited from using taxpayer funds to transfer Gitmo detainees unless he complies with the 30-day notification.

Resist We Much on June 5, 2014 at 2:58 PM

Simple solution then. I will move the prisoners myself with my own money.

Kraut is wrong about most things … and the few times he’s right, he’s generally 18 to 36 months late.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair on June 5, 2014 at 2:35 PM

Absolutely! Krauthammer has to be one of the most overrated talking heads on the right.

I’m sorry Krauthammer had an accident and became quadraplegic. I really am. But that doesn’t give him any magical moral or intellectual authority, and frankly, I find it very difficult to agree with a lot of what he says.

bofh on June 5, 2014 at 3:02 PM

That surprises me. I think Krauthammer is brilliant ( even more so after reading his book) and I agree with him on most things. On those I disagree with, I at least credit his opinion as one to seriously consider. I’m surprised people here think he is on the wrong side of most issues.

That surprises me. I think Krauthammer is brilliant ( even more so after reading his book) and I agree with him on most things. On those I disagree with, I at least credit his opinion as one to seriously consider. I’m surprised people here think he is on the wrong side of most issues.

LASue on June 5, 2014 at 3:14 PM

I’m with you. I generally agree with dr. Krauthammer, although I am not in lock step with him by any means, nor do I agree with his take on letting these 5 terrorists loose on the world.

Trolls must be so confused, just sitting there , waiting to log on and start typing like crazy but not knowing what crap to type.
Bergy Boy is a hero POW— not working .
His colleagues are lairs— not working
His bosses were psychopaths— not working
Taliban is not our enemy— not working
The congress knew— not working
BergDad and taliMom are just not jihadies— not working
What to do ? What to do ?
:O

I’m sure this south end of a horse going north has no idea what difference it makes. This man is a despicable slug with putrid values that are obviously shard by his political contemporaries in the senate. Was the entire state of Nevada drunk when they elected this bum?

I’m not one to hate people, but the notion that this man will die slowly in bed, riddled with sores, wallowing in his own filth, and listening to his kids and grandkids snipe at each other over who’s getting how much of his millions, gives me hope.

I cant really believe I am saying this but I think Harry Reid is right. If he told them what he was doing what difference would it make. He would have done it anyway. The only people interested in the law are those that have an interest in following it, Just like no gun zones, criminals don’t care about that. So criminals like Obama, Holder don’t care what the law says. So Harry Reid is right WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SAO: Senators told yesterday US had “both specific & general indications” of possible threat to Bergdahl’s life if release deal disclosed.

canopfor on June 5, 2014 at 2:45 PM

Apologies if this has already been answered. Obama says it is a sacred duty to leave no man behind, BUT if that same man is put in danger by a deal Obama wants to complete, too bad so sad, because the deal is more important than the man’s life. Couldn’t they just have said no deal is worth a soldier’s life, even a deserter??? Now that would have been good PR news the WH could have trumpeted.

they just told everybody they couldn’t tell anyone or the taliban would kill the soldier in question. now reid just contradicted them and why if he knew would he not tell Feinstien? They are just lying and making things up as they go along. They can’t even get their lies straight. A firing squad would be too good for the lot of them.

That should be the DNC motto: “What Difference Does It Make?”
JetBoy on June 5, 2014 at 2:46 PM

I have notice it’s used after every time they are exposed. Benghazi was about illegal gun running to the Syrian terrorists, and the Abdullah swap was about releasing the 5 Taliban generals. The only loser was the Haqqanj network who didn’t get their cash